Adapting the students into these story parts is pretty tricky, but also part of the job. I hope you all appreciate it.

Chapter 63 – The Mysterious Letter (Red Wolf Moon)

"Well, that was quite the… yeah…," said Dorothea as the students reached the outskirts of Abyss. "I know I'll never want to go back down there again."

"It was… a valuable learning experience," said Byleth. This was met by a few curious glances from the students.

"Learning experience? Seriously, By?" said Anna.

"That's certainly an odd way to put it, Teach," said Claude.

At that moment, the students saw one of the Abyssian rogues running out alongside one of the civilians, both looking to get their attention.

"You! You're all safe!" said the civilian. "How could you all sneak off at a time like this?!"

"W-What?" Marianne said in confusion.

"We had some crucial business underground," said Ferdinand.

"Underground? But we are underground!" said the rogue.

"He's got you there, Ferdie," Dorothea quipped.

"Anyway, things are bad! Really bad!"

"Did something happen?" asked Byleth.

"Some strangers from the outside have kidnapped Master Aelfric!"

As the students were left shocked at the news, Constance said, "Aelfric? No! It cannot be true!"

"When did this abduction occur?" asked Lorenz. "Do not spare any details."

"It happened as soon as he returned from the monastery," said the rogue. "Bandits were lying in wait for him."

"Dammit!" Balthus cursed as he punched a nearby wall, leaving several cracks in the brick. "How could this happen?!"

"This was clearly premeditated," said Constance. "I am certain it is connected to the bandits we fended off earlier."

"Have you alerted the church?" asked Yuri.

"Not yet. It all happened so suddenly…" said the rogue. "Do you think we should? Can we trust them? If we cause too much trouble, Abyss is doomed…"

"Now isn't the time to worry about that! We're in no position to cover something like this up. The church has eyes and ears everywhere, so they may already know what's going on. Either way, go and tell them the news. Now."

"Sure thing! Understood!"

As the rogue took off toward one of the passages leading to the surface, Yuri turned to the civilian and said, "Was anyone wounded when Aelfric was abducted?"

"Yeah," said the civilian. "The bandits set off an explosion of some kind in the market when it happened. And anyone who tried to help Aelfric was cut down. We've got at least a few dozen people in the infirmary."

"S-So many?" Constance gasped in shock. The others shared her dismay at the news.

"We can help," said Dorothea. "Come on, everyone."

…

Dorothea channeled her magic for one of the rogues who had a large gash in his chest from a sword wound. Though she was able to seal the wound, the rogue had already lost a lot of blood. Knowing she had done all she could, Dorothea stood up to look at the others in the infirmary.

It had been more than just a few people wounded during the attack. At least thirty people had been injured, most by the market explosion, with six dead. Most of the injuries had been minor, but at least six of the wounded were in a much worse state and weren't expected to last the night.

Over one of the mortally wounded rogues, Dorothea saw Marianne was offering a prayer to the Goddess. Despite the bluette's skill at healing, even she could not save this Abyssian from his inevitable death.

"Dear Goddess, please watch over this poor soul as he passes to your embrace," said Marianne. "May he find peace in your arms… and…"

Marianne stopped her prayer and began to cry. As she did, Dimitri walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, but Marianne did not look up at him.

"Mercie, can't you do something?" said Annette, prompting Dorothea to look at the two girls.

"I… I'm sorry, Annie, but this… Even I can't heal something this bad…" Mercedes said sadly.

Dorothea looked down at the woman the two were tending to. The Abyssian woman's left lung had been punctured among other severe injuries. She probably wouldn't last another hour.

The singer buried her face in her hands for a moment, wishing Manuela were with them. Deep down, however, Dorothea knew even she probably couldn't save these poor rogues.

Then, the singer heard Hapi say, "Hey, guys! We found something back in the classroom! You're gonna want to hear this."

The students looked briefly to the wounded and, realizing there wasn't anything more they could do, followed Hapi out of the infirmary.

…

"What did you find?" asked Byleth as she and the others gathered in the Ashen Wolves' classroom.

To answer, Yuri raised a letter in his hand.

"What does it say?" asked Dimitri.

Dorothea was the one to step forward and took hold of the letter. She then read it aloud.

"We have abducted Cardinal Aelfric. We can guarantee his safety, for now. If you want to help him, meet us tomorrow evening in the ruins of the old chapel. Bring the chalice. Know that if you alert the knights, the cardinal's life will be forfeit."

"Doubtless this was left by the scoundrels who abducted Aelfric," said Ferdinand.

"Our enemy really is after the chalice," said Constance. "All the while, they were waiting for us to locate it for them…" Then, pondering for a moment, she added, "No… No! Something about this does not ring true!"

"None of it rings true, so which part in particular are you talking about?" asked Hapi.

"How did the enemy know we were searching for the chalice to begin with? This can only mean that someone in Abyss is…"

Everybody knew where this was going before Yuri spoke.

"You smell a rat," he said. "Someone who notified the church or someone else of our plan."

It was then that Constance and Hapi looked toward the first-year students.

"W-Wait a second, why are you looking at us like that?" Bernadetta asked fearfully.

"Y-You don't believe one of us did it, do you?" asked Marianne.

"I dunno, anything's possible," Hapi said crossly.

"Leave it alone, Hapi," said Yuri. "I doubt it was one of them. Whoever kidnapped Aelfric had to be someone with inside knowledge of our defenses and someone who could've snuck that bomb in without being noticed. I don't think any of them fit that criteria."

"Yuri's right, Hapi," said Balthus. "Besides, we were with them the whole time finding this damn thing." He gestured to the chalice as he added, "If one of them was the rat, how would they have gotten word to all those bandits?"

"I… see your point, B," said Hapi. "Sorry, everyone."

"It's no good talking about theoretical rats right now," said Yuri. "First, we have to deal with the problem at hand."

"Too true," said Constance. "For once you are speaking reasonably."

"There is something that is bothering me about all of this," said Edelgard. "The identities of the cardinals are a closely guarded secret of the church. Yet Aelfric's status was disclosed in that letter. Could this signal a power struggle within the church?"

"A distinct possibility, Lady Edelgard," said Hubert. "Or perhaps that is just what our enemy wants us to believe."

"According to the legend that Aelfric shared with us, the chalice has the power to bring back the dead," said Dimitri. "Are his captors hoping to resurrect someone?"

"Or maybe they just want to sell it for a huge payoff," said Sylvain.

"Somehow, I doubt that, Sylvain," Felix said wryly.

"I'll bet whoever took Aelfric knows how to use the chalice," said Claude. "I doubt they just plan to decorate their mantle with it."

"I agree with Claude," said Lysithea. "With everything else that has happened, it's reasonable to assume that Aelfric's abductors know of the chalice's power."

"Baltie, were you aware that Aelfric was a cardinal all this time?" asked Hilda. "I thought the cardinals were just some myth."

"Nah, it's news to me," said Balthus. "The identity of the cardinals is top secret, even within the church. He never would have told us something like that. Oh, except maybe Yuri…"

"He and I talk about a lot of things," said Yuri. "But right now, I'd say we have more important topics to discuss than his title. Aelfric's been kidnapped, so what are we going to do about it?"

The students murmured for a bit among each other as they thought on what to do.

After a few seconds, Bernadetta said, "I think we should just let them have what they want. Then they'll give him back, right?"

"You just wanna give it up after we worked so hard to get it?" said Annette. "We can't do that!"

"Honestly, I believe it would be safer to give them the chalice," said Ignatz. "We would be able to recover Aelfric that way, and the Knights could always take back the chalice afterwards."

"I dunno, Ignatz," said Raphael. "Doesn't sound right just giving in to their demands."

"Even if it is in the name of rescuing him, we simply cannot hand over the chalice to those scoundrels!" said Constance.

"Let's just give them the thing and be done with it," said Hapi.

"Actually, I agree with Constance, and I can't believe I'm saying that," said Dorothea. "If we hand over the chalice, what guarantee do we have that they'll give Aelfric back to us?"

"Dorothea's right," said Anna. "You give in to someone's demands like that, and they'll know they can keep demanding more from you. It's common sense."

"I've seen so many people go back on their word in deals like this from my time in Enbarr. I doubt these guys will honor their end of the bargain."

"I am having agreement with Dorothea," said Petra. "Err, I mean, I agree with Dorothea."

"Same here," said Claude.

"As do I," said Dimitri.

"Professor, what do you believe we should do?" asked Edelgard.

Before Byleth could answer, the sound of footsteps drew everyone's attention to the classroom entrance as Alois and Shamir came into view.

"Professor! I came as fast as I could when I heard the report," said Alois. "I had no idea you'd be here! Oh, and you neither, Anna!"

"Is this loud… uh, excitable knight a friend of yours?" asked Yuri.

"He's a friend of my father's," said Byleth.

"Precisely so! I'm Alois, right-hand man to the former captain of the Knights of Seiros, Sir Jeralt!" said the jovial knight.

"And who's this here?" Balthus asked as he eyed Shamir. "Didn't know such a beauty was one of the knights."

"I wouldn't try it, Balthus," said Sylvain. "Shamir's as stone cold as a winter night in northern Faerghus."

"I've met colder. But if you ask me, she's one smokin' hot – GUH!"

Shamir had walked past Balthus and delivered a sharp elbow to his gut, silencing his comment.

"Tried to warn you," said Sylvain.

"Rhea informed me that you and your students were down here," said Shamir. "Alois, however, didn't get the message. I wasn't aware you'd be here too, Anna."

"Well, you know, I go where the fun is," Anna said jokingly.

"Right…"

"Now, about Aelfric's kidnapping…" said Alois. "Since he's an important member of the church, we must use any means necessary to find him. That said… most of the knights have been deployed to deal with the Western Church."

"Sure, but any knights are better than no knights, yeah?" said Balthus as he recovered from Shamir's blow.

"I like your attitude, though I'm still embarrassed that we're not in full force… But hey, at least we're quite forceful!"

Shamir made a loud sigh at this as Hapi said, "Yep, still as lame as I remember."

"Hmm? Oh, you're that girl with the, err, monster problem, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's me. Now stop trying to be funny before you make me have a really big sigh."

"Sorry about that. I guess this is hardly the time for humor."

"Here. Take this letter," said Yuri as he handed the letter to Shamir. "We believe it was left by whoever kidnapped the cardinal. In it, the enemy clearly spells out their plan. They're after a chalice that was hidden beneath Abyss."

"A chalice…? Ah! Do you mean THE chalice?! But no, why would it be there? I've never heard anything about it being stowed away in Abyss."

"Then this is gonna come as a shock, pal," said Balthus as he held up the chalice.

"By the goddess! Is that really the chalice from the legends?!"

"The probability of that is unassailably high, yes," said Constance.

"It was guarded by a bunch of giant, creepy toys," said Hapi. "There was powerful magic protecting it and everything."

"Yes, they gave us a fair amount of trouble," said Lorenz. "Nothing we could not handle, however." Lorenz then let out a short laugh at this.

"I dunno, Lorenz, your ribs were pretty tricky for me to heal," said Dorothea, which quickly left Lorenz stammering in embarrassment.

"Is all of this true?" Shamir asked Byleth.

"I saw it with my own eyes," Byleth answered.

"Me too!" said Anna. "And I have a broken Levin Sword to prove it…"

The other students affirmed this claim.

"If you all say so," said Alois. "Wow, that means the story about the chalice being bound was true. Well, what's done is done! Oh, but I guess it's not done just yet. We will need to report this to Lady Rhea at once!"

"I just hope we aren't going to be in some kind of trouble for removing it," said Mercedes.

Dorothea did her best to hide her own nervous expression at these words. Rhea was unlikely to have forgotten how she and Byleth had trespassed in Zanado. Dorothea hoped the archbishop would be as forgiving as she had been back then.

As she put away the letter in her jacket, Shamir stepped up to Byleth and whispered, "Didn't we tell you and Dorothea not to go into forbidden places already?"

Byleth was about to protest, but upon seeing Shamir give her a knowing smirk, all the teacher could do was let out a bashful "Ehehehe…"

I always wondered why the Ashen Wolves didn't get any supports with any of the Knights of Seiros. I could totally see Balthus having supports with Catherine (maybe the two of them were in the same year at the Officers' Academy), or Constance with Shamir (up to a B rank), or Hapi with Alois. Really, the Ashen Wolves got the short end of the stick when it came their number of support chains.

Here's a list of some supports I think should've been done with the Ashen Wolves.

Yuri/Ashe

Yuri/Seteth (C-B)

Yuri/Flayn

Balthus/Catherine

Balthus/Manuela

Balthius/Raphael (C-B)

Constance/Shamir (C-B)

Constance/Petra (C-B)

Constance/Hanneman

Hapi/Alois

Hapi/Hanneman

Hapi/Marianne (C-B)

Also, I know that in the original Cindered Shadows story that there weren't that many wounded when Aelfric was abducted, but I chose to add a slightly higher body count. Helps to make the kidnappers seem more monstrous, but I wonder if it's out of character for the mastermind.

Finally, the next battle is going to have a significant alteration to it, one that relates to our favorite diva. Stay tuned!